More Renault updates for Turkey
08 Aug 2006

Renault have promised their rivals there will be further improvements to their R26 machine in time for the next round of the championship in Turkey at the end of the month.

Despite a double DNF in Sundays Hungarian Grand Prix, Renault insisted they were highly encouraged by the pace of their car, which was again forced to run without its controversial mass damper system.

And with testing banned during the three-week break prior to Istanbul, they will now be relying on the wind tunnel rather than on-track work to come up with new improvements.

"We have got another strong package of aero updates coming for Turkey," said Pat Symonds, Executive Director of Engineering. "There was a big update in Hockenheim, which started to show its worth this weekend, and much more is coming. It's a real tribute to the people back at Enstone and Viry, that the rate of development has been so competitive this year.

The dynos are still running flat out preparing developments for the RS26 engine, while at Enstone, the wind tunnel is running 24 hours a day churning out new developments. And as with many aero parts, they don't need the approval stamp of track testing before going on the car - which means the R26 will benefit from a further package in Turkey.

After dominating the first half of the season, Renault have struggled to contain a Ferrari resurgence in recent races - in the last four rounds they have scored 28 points to the Italian teams 55. Nevertheless, having outpaced the red cars in Hungary, Symonds believes the momentum is now back with Renault.

We said before Germany that the balance of power often swings back and forth in August, and we saw a perfect example of it last weekend in Hungary, he added. We want to make sure we keep the advantage in Istanbul, and every member of the Renault team is pushing very hard to make it happen."

With five rounds of the season remaining, Renaults lead over Ferrari in the constructors championship is seven points, while Fernando Alonso has a ten-point margin over Michael Schumacher in the drivers table.

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